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“At least Father Bryne has given us something new – I have a name for what I am, and I know that there are more Lazarii out there. But before we go looking for them, our most pressing issue is to make sure that Jack the Ripper isn’t going to come back. I believe that Father Bryne overheard us talking about Penny and sent the Ripper after her. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt. So how do we use this strange assortment of objects to do that?”
Mina rolls the small velvet bag between her fingers. “This is filled with herbs, right? My friend Jo is a medical examiner. I can get her to analyse the contents in her lab and give us a list of exactly what’s inside. I assume it’s a spell of some kind, so if you know the ingredients of the spell, you can look up the exact recipe online and find out what it does.”
“That’s a good idea. Maybe it’s a protection spell or…or…I don’t know.” I throw up my hands. “I can’t believe we’re even talking aboutspells.”
“In Rome, you’d pay two obels for a spell-in-a-bag with a lovely golden cord like that,” Pax says wistfully. “That’s a top-tier curse, that is. I could never afford a nice curse-in-a-bag. I had to make do with tying a curse stone to the tip of my sword, and they always fell off.”
“Surely the sword severing one’s head is curse enough?” Edward asks with his trademark sardonic smile.
“You’d think so, but—ARGH.”
Pax yelps as Quoth lands on the table, black feathers flying everywhere. The raven picks through the images and pulls one out – a man in a dark cloak has his hand in the air, and from his fingers come strings that tug on the limbs of another man, who is naked and dancing wildly across the page, his bare feet crushing a pile of skulls. Curls of smoke pour from the naked man’s eyes and fingertips. Quoth taps his beak on the image, and I see that the cloaked man is wearing a cross around his neck that looks exactly like Father Bryne’s.
I think she was trying to use these pictures to show you some of the creatures that might come after you and your powers,Quoth says inside my head.
“I hope not.” I stare at the large pile of monsters littering the desk.
I think this image depicts a member of the order, and one of their summoned servants, like the Ripper.
Mina speaks what Quoth said out loud, since only she and I can hear him in his raven form.
“I think Quoth’s right,” Dani says. “We never noticed before, but that man in the black robes looks like Father Bryne. The cross is the same. And Bryne controlled the Ripper, but Bree doesn’t control Pax and Ambrose like that. I looked this up before and the internet says it’s a revenant – a resurrected soul who is corrupted and controlled by another. And there’s some writing beside the skulls, see? Maybe that tells us how to defeat him.”
“Oh, excellent,” I sigh. “Good thing we’re all experts in Latin—”
“It says, ‘A revenant is a foul and abominable creation, where the restless spirit of the deceased, once subjected to these dreadful incantations, may rise from the grave to fulfil such foul tasks as their master sets forth.” Pax jabs a finger at the writing. “Or that could be a U, in which case it gives a recipe for a very delicious fish stew.”
I lean forward. “Does it say anything else?”
Pax shakes his head.
“We don’t need any more Latin when we have the internet.” Dani taps away on her phone. “I came across revenants in my research, remember?”
“A demon?”
“No, not a demon. “A revenant is more like a zombie. It’s someone who has died and been brought back to life again by a sorcerer or dark priest.”
“So, Pax and Ambrose?” I bristle at the idea of being referred to as a ‘sorcerer.’
“No. Revenants don’t have souls. They operate on base instincts, which is why the Ripper was going around killing in the exact manner he used in his life. Their sorcerer controls them, and gifts them with unholy powers, whatever that means. Although, the revenant must stay nearby their sorcerer to be called on when they’re needed.”
“That makes sense,” I say. “Both Father Bryne and the Ripper talked about having a connection, and the Order would want undead servants they can control.”
Everything Dani says feels instinctively correct to me, as though it’s knowledge I already possess but have somehow forgotten until this moment. I think about the sensation I had in the graveyard when I shoved the knife into the Ripper, and again when I pushed Pax’s silver cord back through his lips. I knewexactlywhat to do, even though this is all completely new and utterly terrifying to me.
Dani continues. “When you sever the link to their sorcerer, the revenant loses the magic that protects them. They become completely mortal, and can then be killed by the same method as any other human.”
Like with a knife through the heart.
“So the Ripper is gone for good?” Relief floods my veins.
“I’m not so sure.” Dani’s eyes flick over her phone screen. “Revenants are driven by a desire to relive the things they enjoyed in life. If their will is particularly strong, they may be able to return where ‘the Veil is weak’ without a master, to fulfil their life’s purpose. And Jack the Ripper has only killed two victims.”
“Three.” I count them off. “Vera, Penny, and Pax. Just because I brought him back doesn’t mean he didn’t—”
—die.
I can’t say the word. I don’t even want tothinkit.
